Vending machine cabinet



Aprifi M, 393.. w. H. BUTTERWORTH VENDING MACHINE CABINET Original FiledApril 23, 1934 iii at 14 .47. 4 .44 mm:

INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 14, 1933 UNITED STATES VENDING MACHINE CABINET WilloughbyHarrison Butterworth, Oak Park, Ill., assig nor to John Franklin Meyer,Pasadena, A Cali Original application April 23., 1934, Serial No.

721,858. Divided and thi 11, 1935, Serial No. 10,412

1 Claim.

My invention relates to vending machines and has particular reference tovending machines in which articles are vended through the agency of aminiature representation of a traveling crane,

or similar device, more particularly illustrated in the copendingapplication of John Franklin Meyer and Carl R. Simpkins, Serial No.699,014, filed November '21, 1933, wherein a miniature clam shelldigger, supported upon a movable beam, is arranged over an articlesupporting platform, so that upon the deposit of a coin in the machinethe bucket will move from a position over a delivery opening to aposition of selected articles, and then descend upon the articles, graspthem and move them to the delivery area.

Such machines are usually housed in a boxlike cabinet, the walls ofwhich are formed of any suitable material, although that part of thecabinet adjacent to and lying above the article 20 platform is usuallyformed of transparent material, so that persons operating the machinemay watch the movements of the clam shell bucket or other graspingdevice. I-Ieretofore, such cabinets have been arranged in such mannerthat consid- 25 erable areas of the upper part of the cabinet above thearticle platform have been formed of wood or similar material, throughwhich holes or openings may readily be made and considerable pil--fering of the contents of such vending machines has resulted as openingsmay be made in the cabinet and Wires inserted therein for the purpose ofmoving or purloining the articles.

It is, therefore, an object or my invention to provide a cabinet forsuch vending machines, in which protective material is arranged on allsides of the cabinet adjacent to and above the article platform whichcannot readily be perforated.

Another object of my invention is to provide a cabinet for such vendingmachines, in which the glass employed as a transparent material for theadjacent sides of the cabinet overlap each other to prevent access tothe cabinet by the mere puncturing or perforating of the wood of thecabinet.

Other objects of my invention will be apparent from a study of thespecification read in connection with the accompanying drawing, whereinFig. 1 is a front elevation view of a vending machine having a cabinetconstructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional View, taken along line ]III of Fig. 1;and

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view, illustrating the construction ofthe top of the cabinet shown in Fig 1;

This is a division of my copending application,

5 application March Serial No. 721,858, filed April 23, 1934, on Vendingmachine.

Referring to the drawing, I have illustrated in Fig. 1 avending machineenclosed within a cabinet l the upper portion of which consistsessentially of a rear wall 2, side walls 3 and 4, and a floor 6constituting an article supporting platform upon which the articles tobe vended by the machine may be placed. It will be understood bythoseskilled. in the art that the article supporting platform 6 may becovered with small bits of candy and candy-coated nuts, in which aredistributed prizes consisting of more valuable articles of merchandisewhich the persons operating the machine may attempt to grasp with thegrasping device by skillfully adjusting the mechanism of the machine.

The article platform 6 and all portions of the machine above suchplatform must, therefore, be visible to the persons operating themachine, and for this purpose the side walls 3 and 4 of the machine areformed of sheets of glass, while the front of thecabinet above thearticle platform 6 is formed by a glazed door 9.

It will be observed in Fig. 2 that the rear edges 10 and l I of the sideglasses 3 and 4 abut directly upon the rear wall 2 of the cabinet, whilethe front edges {2 and I 3 of, these glasses extend into abuttingrelation with the door 9, the glass I4 of which has its side edges [5and I6 extending in overlapping relation with the edges 12 and I3 of theside glasses.

In this manner three sides of the upper part of the cabinet are formedof glass, which cannot readily be puncturedor drilled, or otherwiseperforated, to permit the insertion therein of wires or other devicesfor manipulating the contents of the cabinet. Any perforating tool whichis directed against the side or front walls of this portion of thecabinet will strike the glass. Hence, any attempt to perforate thecabinet will be frustrated, unlessthe glass is fractured with anattendant noise which will attract attention and notify the owner oroperator of the machine of the cabinet to pilfer the contents of themachine. If desired, an additional protective glass l1 may be providedimmediately at the rear of the door 9, such glass being suitablysupported in guides l8 and I9 supported upon and attached to the flooror platform 6 and resting directly against the inner sides of the glasswalls 3 and 4.

The rear walls of the machines of this character are ordinarily providedwith suitable decorative designs, lending an attractive appearance tothe mechanism of the machine, such design being usually painted orotherwise formed upon a sheet of metal or paper attached to the rearwall of the machine. I prefer to provide such decorative design uponrelatively thin material to be attached to a heavy plate 20 of hardenedmaterial, such as steel, which is in turn placed against and attached tothe rear wall 2 of the cabinet. In this way, attempts to pilfer themachine by boring holes through the rear wall of the cabinet may befrustrated by the employment of suitable so-called burglar-proofmaterial for the plate 28. It will also be observed from an inspectionof Fig. 2 that the side edges of the plate 213 overlap the adjacentedges I0 and II of the side glasses 3 and 4.

By referring particularly to Fig. 3, it will be observed that a similarlining 2| of steel may be provided upon the inner side of the top 22 ofthe cabinet, such lining plate being preferably formed of material whichmay be polished to form a reflecting surface, assisting in theillumination of the interior of the cabinet. These machines, however,are usually located in the interior of buildings and require artificialillumination, which may readily be provided through an illuminatingfixture 23 attached to the top 22 of the cabinet. The fixture 23 isillustrated as comprising a hood 24 extending through the top 22 andhaving a socket mounting 25 extending substantially at right angles tothe hood 24. The socket mounting 25 constitutes a housing in which asuitable lamp socket 26 may be secured, the socket 2% being set into anopening in the socket mounting which substantially conforms with theexterior of the socket so as to provide no passage therebetween forwires, cords or other pilfering tools. For the purpose of ventilatingthe cab-inet, and particularly to assist in the escape of heattherefrom, I provide a plurality of ventilating openings 21 in thefixture 23, arranged, however, to penetrate only the socket mountingportion of the fixture and spaced away from the opening through whichthe hood 24 projects. Also, I prefer to provide a flange 28 which mayextend some considerable distance over the top 22 of the cabinetadjacent the opening through which the hood 24 projects to furtherinsure against possible entry of pilfering tools around the hoodopening.

After the machine has been placed in operation, it frequently occursduring the life of the machine that it is necessary to clean out thecandy orother articles which are vended therein, considerable difficultybeing encountered in entirely removing all of the small particles ofcandy or other small material which may be in the cabinet. This may befacilitated, however, by employing an opening 29 in the floor orplatform 6, arranged to be closed by a cover 30, preferably attached toa block 3| insertable in the opening 29, so that by removing the blockand cover a door or opening is provided in the floor 6 through which thecontents of the cabinet may be readily removed into a suitable vesselplaced below the opening 29. The block 3| and cover 30 may be retainedin place in any suitable manner, as by providing a bolt 32 on the block3| extending through a cross-strap 33 attached to the underneath side ofthe partition 6, a wing nut 34 being provided to retain the block andcover snugly in the opening 29.

It will, therefore, be apparent from the foregoing description that theupper part of the cabinet containing the vendable articles is protectedupon all of its sides from ready access by wires or other suitabletoolswhich might be employed to pilfer the contents.

The general arrangement and construction of the operating parts of themachine shown herein may be identical with the construction shown anddescribed in the copending application of John Franklin Meyer, et al.,hereinbefore referred to, and does not constitute a part of the presentinvention. Since its particular construction is immaterial to theparticular cabinet construction which constitutes the present invention,it need not be described.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention,I do not desire to be limited to any of the details of constructionshown or described herein, except as defined in the appended claim.

I claim: 7

A vending machine cabinet comprising a rear wall of wood having an innerfacing of harder material extending laterally flush with the edges ofthe wood wall, side walls of glass, the rear edges of which abut againstsaid facing on the rear wall and the outer faces of which are flush withthe edges of the rear wall, side wall supporting members consisting of apair of wood framing members lying flush against the lateral edges ofthe rear wall and overlapping the faces of the glass side walls alongtheir rear margins other side wall supporting members consisting of apair of wood framing members positioned flush against the outer surfacesof the glass side walls adjacent their front margins with the frontedges of the framing members flush with the front edges of the glassside walls, a door for closing the front of said cabinet comprising awood frame defining a window opening, said frame when closed lying flushagainst the said front edges of said glass side walls and of said lastmentioned pair of wood framing members, and a glass wall member in saiddoor extending into rabbets provided therefor in said frame whichdefines said window opening, said glass wall. filling said windowopening and extending laterally within the door frame at least to theplanes of the outer surfaces of said glass side walls.

WILLOUGHBY HARRISON BUTTERWORTH.

